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Beautiful Bobbins!

Guess what I got in the mail yesterday.

(Suppose I kind of gave it away with the post title, eh?)

Yep. I got Sophie’s new bobbins from Ron Antoine!

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(that’s the old one in the middle)

We are both so very pleased.

Here she is all reassembled with the small Kromski whorl and new bobbin.

Sophie with new bobbin

She’s so much smoother and quieter now.
And also faster- I’ve got her on the 13:1 whorl, and things are going just spinningly.

In other news, I finally cooked up one of our Cinderella pumpkins from the garden-

Pureed Pumpkin

and turned it into pie!

From Scratch Pumpkin Pie cropped

and sampled shortly thereafter.

This was a trial run on the “from-scratch” pie for Thanksgiving. (I’ve always used canned pumpkin before). And a mighty successful one at that!

I’ve also finally gotten back on track with The Man’s sweater. Sleeve #1 is about half done, and I think that I’ve finally got it right.

Shimon's Sleeve

The knitting goal for this week is to finish both sleeves and develop a plan for the finishing….

Have a great Thanksgiving!

The Take

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Isn’t she lovely?

Here she is again:

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A soft and silky pile pf taupey, woolly goodness.

There were a lot of really nice dark fleeces there-

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And beautiful mohair-

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All kinds of good stuff. And coffee and cider to boot!

It’s always a nice sale.

In other news, I am a few short rows away from closure on the Zauberball socks!

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And am still waiting to get Sophie’ flyer and bobbins back from Ron.
It hasn’t been that long- I’m just anxious to have her back together. She looks kinda forlorn with her parts missing-

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(But maybe that’s just because she’s hanging out by the cello, who hasn’t seen much use in recent years.)

Fall Fleece Sale

Not much knitting news this week. I’ve taken a time out on The Man’s sweater. Will rally the troops and make another charge maybe sometime soon. Hate to put the handspun through too much rippage, though.

I’m in anticipation this week. I expect to be receiving my new bobbins for Sophie back from Mr. Antoine sometime soon, and also looking forward to a really good fiber sale next weekend-

Here are the details-

Skagit Producers’ Fleece Sale

Saturday November 14th, 2009.

It starts at 9 a.m. and goes until 3 p.m.

“Quality, soft fleeces consigned by local producers will be available and will include white and natural colored fine, medium and long wool sheep as well as white and natural colored mohair from Angora Goats.  Also available will be dyed and processed fiber.”

Everyone is invited to stop by for a fun day at the farm and bring a friend!  If you are looking for a “special” fleece, call (360) 757-6281 to see if they can assist you.  The sale is located at:   17543 Peterson Road,  Burlington, Washington

Directions:  Traveling South on I-5, take Exit 230.  Traveling North on I-5, take Exit 230.  Turn left onto Highway 20, turn right onto Garrett Road, turn left onto Peterson Road and follow directional signs.

Every year I go and get a really nice, clean natural colored Border Leicester fleece for the stash.

Here are some recent results from last year’s find-

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Border Leicester

A lot of last year’s BL went into the Experimental Sweater–but I still have some left, so I’ll have to be careful not to overindulge. But it’s hard to keep one’s head once the wool fumes hit.

Perhaps I should take a chaperone?

Knitting and Unknitting

The Man’s sweater looks much like it did last week.

This is not because I have not been knitting.

It is just that I’m having conceptual difficulties with the sleeve.

I have knit (and ripped) the right shoulder of this sweater 3 times now.

And I’m starting to wonder if part of the problem is the depth of the armhole.

Or perhaps I did not design-in enough ease through the chest.

I’m going to have to sleep on it before I make another attempt.

 

In other news, I took a field trip to Pullman, WA this weekend to visit WSU Animal Science facilities- Swine, Cattle, Sheep ,etc etc…

Photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/44275451@N08/sets/72157622585553769/